Embracer Group has entered into negotiations to purchase Asmodee. The size of the transaction may amount to €2.75 billion
Swedish Embracer Group is preparing for another major purchase. The company has announced plans to acquire Asmodee, a French publisher of board games and video games based on them. If the negotiations are successful, the Embracer Group will become the largest gaming group in Europe.
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It is assumed that the purchase will cost the Swedish holding € 2.75 billion.
Of this amount, the Embracer Group will transfer €2.4 billion in cash (including loans), and it will give the remaining €350 million in newly issued shares.
If successful, the transaction will be completed within six months.
Asmodee will continue to work independently. The company’s CEO Stephane Carville and other top managers will retain their positions.
As Embracer Group explains, thanks to the deal with Asmodee, it will be able to become not only the largest gaming group, but also take a leading position in the market of board games. In addition, both companies will be able to use each other’s IP.
Currently, Asmodee has over 300 franchises in its portfolio. For example, she and her internal studios were responsible for publishing the boards “Colonizers”, “Train Ticket”, “Pandemic”, “Dixit” and “Luxury”. Asmodee also has licenses to publish games for such franchises as Pokémon, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Star Wars.
In addition to the board games themselves, Asmodee publishes mobile and PC games. She has published adaptations of Pathfinder, Gloomhaven, Carcassonne, The Horrors of Arkham and Blood and Fury.
Asmodee was founded in 1995 in Paris. According to approximate estimates, for the calendar year 2021, its net revenue should be € 1.1 billion. It is not specified how many people currently work in the company. However, it is known that after the transaction, the number of employees of Embracer Group may grow to 11,300 people. For comparison, at the end of September, the holding had 9064 employees.
Embracer Group is one of the most active gaming companies in the M&A market. At the end of September, she announced the takeover of the Russian studio Bytex, and a month before that she bought three companies at once: SmartPhone Labs, Demiurge Studios, Fractured Byte. If negotiations with Asmodee are successful, 108 studios and 560 franchises will already be under the control of the Swedes.
